techniques to read faster, scanning to search the phone number, dictionary, television program; skimming to search the general idea in short text.
B. The Nature of Descriptive Text
1. The Definition of Descriptive Text
Descriptive text is a text that describes the characteristic of something like person, place or thing. Before talked about descriptive text, it is necessary to know
what the text itself.According to Anderson, text is when words are put together to communicate a meaning, a piece of text is created. Texts consist of spoken or written
words that have the purpose of conveying a message.
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It can be said text is words that has a function to communicate which created by speaker or writer to inform a
message. Furthermore,Dietsch stated
, “description is a recording of concrete details that you see, hear, smell, taste or touch”.
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In another word, description is a process of describing about something that people feel by using their five senses, it can be what
people see like someone, place or thing; what people taste like food, drink or potion; what people hear like music, sound, or noise; what people smell like aroma of food or
scent of rubbish; what people touch like soft, coarse, brisk, etc. Then Buscemi and Smith stated, “description makes for diversity. The people,
place, and things described in the six selections that follow vary as widely as the distinctive style and perpectives of their authors. Nonetheless, each essay is a potrait
sketched in details that are at once concrete, spesific, and vivid”.
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It can be said that description is the writer’s way to describe about people, place and things which
appropriate with what they see in a real subject.
13
Mark Anderson and Kathy Anderson, Text Types in English 3, Sellanor: Macmillan Education Australia PTY LTD, 1998, p.2.
14
Betty Mattix Dietsch, Reasoning Writing Well 4ed, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006, p.140.
15
Santi V. Buscemi and Charlotte Smith, 75 Readings plus 8ed, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2007,p.37.
Descriptive text can be diff erent based on the writer’s opinion. It can be
happened in subjective description , for example descriptive text about the writer’s
mother. Meanwhile in objective description, the writer cannot put their personal opinion in descriptive text. As Pharr stated,
“descriptive comes in two basic forms: objective and subjective. Objective description is used in the science, in business, and
in technology; in this approach, the writers describe their subject without including their personal responses. Subjective description allows the writer to show personal
connection to his or her subject ”.
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2. The Purpose of Descriptive Text
Each text has different purpose. Based on the definition of descriptive above descriptive text is a text that describe about something so it can be for expressing,
entertaining and informing about the object that people see, taste, feel, hear and touch. As Clouse stated
, “there are five purposes of description such as to entertain; to express feelings; to relate experience; to inform for a reader unfamiliar with the
subject or to inform to create a fresh appreciation for the familiar and to persuade to convince the reader that some music videos degrade women
”.
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In addition, Dietsch said that , “description has three general purposes like to
create imagery, a mood, or an aura of a place; to stimulate understanding and convince; and to urge the listeners to action
”.
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It can be said the purposes of descriptive text are to inform the specific features of the subject that can also to
entertain and to influence the reader. For instance there is a picture of actress used pink dress with the animal print motif; her hair is red and curly; she used a necklace
and bracelet and she also used pink wedges. The example of descriptive text above, it can give the information about the actress, it can entertain the reader and influence
them to imitate what their favorite actress used.
16
Donald Pharr and Santi V. Buscemi, Writing Today, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005, p.137.
17
Barbara Fine Clouse, The Student Writer, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008, p.154.
18
Dietsch.loc. cit.